New Delhi, March 27 -- Lebanon's coastal southern city of Tyre - famed for its Roman ruins and white sandy beaches - is almost a ghost town.

Abandoned dogs roam vacant streets dotted with apartment buildings blasted by recent Israeli airstrikes. The ancient city largely emptied last week as Israel escalated its attacks against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah and issued sweeping evacuation orders for everywhere south of Lebanon's Litani River.

In recent days, Israeli airstrikes have also destroyed most of the bridges over the Litani, severing wide swaths of the country - including Tyre - from the rest of Lebanon.

The renewed war between Israel and Hezbollah, against the backdrop of the wider war between Israel, the United States an...